


(if there's a light at the end) it's just the sun in your eyes

by jdphoenix



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Episode: s03e16 Paradise Lost, F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-15
Updated: 2016-04-15
Packaged: 2018-06-02 08:14:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,415
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6558964
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jdphoenix/pseuds/jdphoenix
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>She’s never spoken to a god, she’s not sure how.</p>
            </blockquote>





	(if there's a light at the end) it's just the sun in your eyes

**Author's Note:**

> Title from Halsey's "young god."

There’s a slight tremor to Allen’s “ma’am” - and as he’s been their butler since Stephanie was a child and has seen even worse things happen in this house than she has, it’s more than a little concerning.

“What is it?” she asks, setting aside her ledger and moving to meet him at the door.

“He’s here, miss.” Allen’s eyes widen on the _he_ and he puts a very small emphasis on it, just enough that she knows before she steps into the doorway, who she’ll be seeing in the foyer.

She didn’t expect him to be so handsome.

But handsome, she can handle. There are plenty of men like that in her social circle and she learned to move past the butterflies a pretty smile can inflict when she was a teenager. She steps past Allen to greet him with a smile of her own.

“We’re honored that you’d visit our home.” A little notice might have been nice though; she’s going to give Daddy _such_ a talking to for this one. She hopes the blue bedroom is ready, as it’s the best they have.

“Your hospitality is appreciated - though I am sorry to intrude. I didn’t intend on beating your father here.”

Stephanie shakes her head. “Oh no. That’s quite all right; I’m more than capable of taking care of you. Would you like anything to eat? Or to rest from your trip? I’m sure we have a room that will suit you-” She tosses the last over her shoulder and Allen nods curtly before disappearing to see it’s done. If the blue room isn’t ready now, it will be soon.

“Many rooms, eventually,” he says as he goes back to examining the architecture. “There will be a meeting of HYDRA’s heads here tomorrow.”

“So soon?” Now she’s not thinking about playing hostess. If the inner circle is assembling - and to see _him_ \- it means things are about to move forward _very_ rapidly.

He smiles and this time the butterflies are a bit harder to tamp down. It’s understandable, really. He’s everything she’s spent her whole life serving and he’s pleased with _her_ \- or amused, she can’t really tell. Doesn’t matter, the smile’s still very effective.

He moves towards the front door in a way she’s meant to follow, so she does. “I’ve spent weeks recuperating and weeks more preparing - and before that there were the centuries imprisoned in hell-” he pulls the door open and stops there, fixing her with a look as if to drive home all he’s suffered while the human race has spread out and risen up, forgetting its true place- “I think this is rather overdue.”

She nods, unable to find words to express what she’s feeling. Should she be sorry? Sympathetic? Eager for the new world he’ll forge from the old?

She’s never spoken to a god, she’s not sure how.

“But I’m afraid,” he says as he steps past her into the sun, “I’ll have to impose on your hospitality until then.”

“Nothing you could do would be an imposition,” she says, moving to follow him, only to stop before she leaves the shadow of the house.

One of the guards - one of his, not the ones who are ever present on the property - is approaching from a sleek town car and carrying a sleeping woman in his arms. She doesn’t stir when she changes hands, even with the way he cradles her to his chest and tucks her head under his chin.

Stephanie swallows back a surge of (curiosity, jealously, grief) something and steps back, holding the door wide to make sure he has room to pass easily through with her. “Does she need a doctor?”

“Oh no,” he says. “She recovered only moments after the accident, she sleeps now only because I will it.” He lifts his eyes from the peaceful face and some of the adoration remains. “She’ll need a room. One with plenty of sun, I think.” There’s a joke she doesn't understand in the request.

“Of course. Right this way.”

The gold room isn’t quite as nice as the blue, but it’s named for the way the sun shines on the forest outside in autumn. The bank of windows gives a near 180 degree view of the western side of the property and it’s gone back and forth between a bedroom and a reading room nearly a dozen times since the house was built for just that reason. Stephanie thanks- well, not the god following her up the stairs, but whatever good angel was sitting on her shoulder when she last decided to turn it back.

She holds this door open too and, once he’s through, hurries ahead again to pull down the sheets. He lays the woman gently on the bed, making sure her head is resting comfortably on the pillows and her hair won’t pull at her in her sleep.

Now, in the light of the afternoon sun and without him to distract her, Stephanie can clearly see the insignia on the sleeping woman’s shoulder.

“Who is she?” she asks carefully.

“A sacrifice,” he says, his fingers trailing along her cheek. She turns into his touch and his smile grows. “The last before this one, the only one to escape me, and the reason I’m back now.”

“I thought only men were sacrificed.” There was a time when the fact of it struck her as more than a little sexist - only men good enough to die for their god - but once she learned _why_ they were sacrificed it made sense; if he wants male bodies, that’s his choice.

“Fate had other ideas.”

That something she felt before skitters to the back of her mind, replaced by something entirely different when he bends to kiss along the woman’s neck. It’s not a gentle kiss goodnight or goodbye, it’s a lover’s kiss so passionate Stephanie has to look away.

The woman moans and arches into him, her legs twisting under the blankets. “Will,” she gasps, pulling Stephanie’s attention back. She doesn’t know what he prefers to be called, but she doubts it’s that.

Sure enough, he’s stopped, his expression closing off as the woman settles back into her peaceful sleep. “It’s a start,” he says and straightens.

With surprising reluctance, Stephanie follows him out the door. “I’ll post a guard,” she says while her eyes adjust to the dimmer light of the hall. “He’ll be able to tell you the moment she shows signs of waking up.”

“No need. As I said, she sleeps so long as I will it. She’ll dream until she’s ready.”

“Dream?” Stephanie echoes. There’s another question to be asked of that sentence, but after the little show she just got, she has a pretty good idea what that woman’s being readied for.

“Old dreams mostly - and a few new.” His smile sharpens and when he turns to the blank door, Stephanie could swear he’s seeing right through it. “Now, I believe I heard you say something about refreshments?”

She hesitates. “I hope you don’t take this the wrong way - and don’t mean to question you, but I also don’t want to fail you - she’s a _SHIELD_ agent. Even if she’s not going to wake up, SHIELD is notoriously tricky; if they come for her, the safest place is in the basement.” Technically it’s a dungeon, but as they upgraded from the chains and medieval torture devices for more modern ones in the 80s, it feels imprecise to call it that anymore.

He regards her coolly for the longest minute of her life before wandering to one side of the hall, his eyes on the oil painting hanging there. “Why is this here?”

She gapes, thrown by the sudden question. “Be- because it matches the carpet.”

He grins. “But why not simply leave the wall blank, save yourself the trouble?”

“The painting’s prettier than the wall would be.” She has no idea where this is going but she’s willing to follow wherever he leads.

“So you hang it here to enjoy it? For its aesthetic beauty?”

She nods.

He looks past her to the door again. “Jemma is the last of my sacrifices. I intend on enjoying her.” A chill accompanies his words and his warm smile following them feels wholly out of place. “Now. Refreshments?”

She matches his easy expression and gestures for him to precede her to the stairs; it gives her the chance to let out the shudder his cold words left under her skin.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Shineyma prompted Jemma/Hive and neck kiss over on tumblr and, as I've been dying to write something for this episode, it was only natural this happen.


End file.
